SOMERVILLE, Mass. — Like many aspiring authors, Theodor Seuss Geisel did not meet with instant success. Numerous publishers rejected his first book, And to Think I Saw it On Mulberry Street, before it finally made it to market in 1937.
This week, Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that volume’s long publishing run was coming to an end -- along with five other Seuss books: McElligot’s Pool, The Cat’s Quizzer, On Beyond Zebra, Scrambled Eggs Super and If I Ran the Zoo.
The reason: the books contain words and images some found offensive -- such as Asians drawn with accentuated eyes and Africans depicted as pygmies.
The move comes on what would have been Seuss’s 117th birthday, which has traditionally coincided with Read Across America Day.
“There are lots of studies showing that the imagery and pictures he’s put in a lot of his books are blatantly racist,” said Sailaja Joshi, founder and CEO of Mango and Marigold Press, a Somerville-based publisher of children’s books. “And so I think the call to action for a lot of folks during Read Across America week has been to replace Dr. Seuss with more thoughtful classics.”
In part, that means books children can culturally relate to, said Joshi. “Our tagline is, we share stories of the South Asian experience,” she said. “The South Asian experience encompasses many different countries, many different religions and so many different communities. And so what I look for in a text is for an author to bring me their story in an exciting way that will resonate with children.”
Recent Mango and Marigold Press titles include Little Jagadish and The Great Experiment, Rea and the Blood of the Nectar and always Anjali.
Joshi, who grew up in Attleboro, but is of Indian descent, said the company’s books have found an audience beyond the original target.
“Parents across the country, across different ethnic diversities love our books because they’re good stories,” she said. “And they’re stories that entertain their children, uplift their children.”
That is precisely what the Seuss books did for generations of children, including Clayton Cheever, now director of the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood.
“Just the way that he played with words is what I think everybody would celebrate,” Cheever said.
Seuss not only played with words -- he outright made them up, most especially when forcing a rhyme. The rollicking, silly prose that spilled on the pages as a result seemed like good, clean, literary fun.
But critics began seeing outdated words and images in some Seuss books that might have been acceptable decades ago, but would never make it into children’s books now.
For example, at one point in If I Ran the Zoo, the boy collecting exotic animals travels to a country called Zomba-ma-Tant, where he enlists helpers “who all wear their eyes at a slant.” The accompanying illustration shows a group of Asians loaded at the shoulders with a giant creature in a cage.
The Norwood library has three of the discontinued Seuss books on its shelves. But Cheever said there are plenty of alternates for those who take offense.
“A lot of us have very fond memories. But it’s not always fond memories for everybody,” he said. “There are certainly a lot of people that are looking for inclusiveness right now. And I think when we can bring people together and celebrate reading and celebrate what makes us great, it’s all the stronger.”
Joshi understands many feel nostalgia for Dr. Seuss. But she said it’s important parents consider the messages books send through words and images.
“When we are really striving to raise a generation of culturally sensitive, empathetic children, it’s our duty as caregivers and parents to really think critically about what we’re putting on their shelves.”
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